Wednesday, September 18, 2013

Excellent article on DC's 'Normal Course of Business'

DC currently has a policy against married superheroes that extends
across the line regardless of character sexuality.....DC would have been smart to make an exception to their rule for a
Batwoman marriage....I also think it would
be extraordinary and wonderful to make Kate and Maggie the Reed and Sue
of the DC Universe. It would make a positive statement about same-sex
marriage, and DC could have sold the story internally and externally as exceptional;
deserving of exemption from their anti-marriage policy precisely
because of its cultural importance. ....Here’s the way it’s supposed to work: The creative team pitches an idea.
The editor comes back with notes. The creative team makes changes. The
editor approves the idea. Sometimes there are no notes and no changes.
Sometimes the idea gets thrown out completely and the creative team
comes up with a new pitch. But once an idea is approved, it’s supposed
to be the idea that sees print.....By all reports it is now standard practice for DC editorial to approve a
story and let the creators start work on it, only to then “unapprove”
the story and demand drastic changes at the last minute. That level of
interference is why Williams and Blackman left. It’s why Jenkins left.
It’s why Pérez left. It’s why Rozum left. It’s the “normal course of
business” at DC. ....DC is not wrong to value and court its core audience, but the publisher
has 52 titles to play with, and no-one in that core audience is reading
52 DC titles a month. There are other niches to crack besides “straight
white men who like horror” and “straight white men who like westerns.”
Straight white men who grew up reading comics and want to buy something
for their daughters might be a place to start.